With just days to go until the deadline youngsters are being encouraged to get creative in the kitchen this weekend and rustle up an entry for the Young Cooks contest.

Entrants aged between six and 19 years have the chance to win cooking-related goodies plus a share of a £500 prize pot.

All they have to do is make their chosen dishes and upload a photo plus recipe details to the Young Cooks website before midnight on Wednesday, November 7.

Youngsters can have help from parents, guardians or teachers in completing the simple online entry form – while entrants for the Family category can also have the help of an adult to make the food.

Three R’s Teacher Recruitment is among the organisations on the judging panel looking forward to finding the county’s most talented young chefs.

Leah MacDonald, primary education consultant at the recruitment specialists, said: “Young Cooks is a great event that encourages children of all ages to get involved in the kitchen.

“The ideas the children come up with are unbelievable - the talent that we see! - and it makes judging harder and harder every year.”

She added a tip for entrants, saying: “For those that are going to do two categories – please make sure that your dishes are complementary to each other, whether that’s a starter and a main, or a main and a dessert.”

Young Cooks is organised by children’s educational charity the KM Charity Team in a bid to tempt young people to get creative in the kitchen and learn about healthy options and cooking to a budget.

Categories include Primary School, Secondary School, and Families for adult-and-child teams.

Joining Three R’s on the judging panel are Whole School Meals, Macknade Fine Foods, Golding Vision (part of Golding Homes), Orbit, The Dog at Wingham, Chequers Kitchen Cookery School, Licensing Consultancy Services, The Southern Co-operative, Brakes, and Kent Catering Service.

Finalists will compete at an exciting MasterChef-style cook-off where they will prepare their menus for the judges using professional catering facilities at East Kent College.

For more information, including viewing previous entries, or submitting an entry, visit www.YoungCooks.org.uk before midnight on Wednesday, November 7.